The present invention relates to a musical instrument, and specifically to a hollow body stringed instrument with a system for generating percussion (drum) sounds, and a signal processing system to facilitate the simultaneous playing of the instrument strings and the triggering of sounds stored within a percussion synthesizer.
In the genre of live musical performance, the solo guitarist, that is, one who prefers to be the sole live performer of music on a given stage, must do so without the pulse and beat of live percussion instrument sounds. The addition of percussion instrument sounds such as bongos, congas, or a full set of drums has been attainable through the addition of a live drummer or percussionist, or through the use of any of several commercially produced drum machines that, by design, limit the instrumentalist""s musical spontaneity.
To accompany himself or herself, the solo musician may choose from many commercially produced drum machines, each containing a sequencer that is preprogrammed to regulate the tempo, meter, and drum selection of the percussion rhythm track it supplies. The use of these machines requires that the instrumentalist""s performance and music follow the programmed rhythm track, and spontaneity is often sacrificed. Also, the meter that the drum machine supplies is thought by many to be mechanical sounding and devoid of the musical ebb and flow that is best achieved by a responsive, freely thinking, live musician. Furthermore, seeing and hearing their favorite music played by a machine may be less attractive to live audiences than having the same music being performed spontaneously and with all the nuances and improvisation of a live performance for the individuals of a given audience on a given date.
Several portable, hand playable percussion instruments designed for live performance and utilizing pressure-sensitive piezoelectric transducers have been made in prior art. Several of these inventions are found in U.S. patents to Stanton (U.S. Pat. No. 5,841,052), Valentine, Sr. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,972), Segan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,668), Cole (U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,119), and Jones (U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,028). None of these patents include a functional stringed instrument in their designs. Other devices designed to accompany a fully functional guitar have been made in prior art. Several of these inventions are found in U.S. patents to Barnes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,900,573), Wakuda (U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,744), Hudak (U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,535), Barnard (U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,711), and Ibanez (U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,751).
In the Barnes patent, a device that is comprised of a striking member and a sound-producing base is mounted on the exterior shell of a guitar. The device is struck by the hand or by a foot pedal to produce a sound, much like installing a tiny cymbal with a hammer on it to produce a tapping, cymbal-like sound. The sounds produced by the mechanical device are limited to those that can be installed in the sound-producing base. The sounds produced by striking the device are described in the Barnes patent as washboard-like, castanet-like, cymbal-like, or drum-like. The device does not utilize transducers, nor does it have the capabilities to be connected to a percussion synthesizer. It cannot replicate the sounds of a full set of drums.
In the Wakuda, Hudak, and Barnard patents, hand-operated, onboard devices installed in or on the body of the guitar provide adjustment of parameters such as volume, vibrato, tremolo, echo, and other effects that are available in multiple effects units to which an instrument output is connected. The units described in these patents do not have the capabilities to trigger sounds from a percussion synthesizer.
In the Ibanez patent, a traditional, sequencer-controlled drum sound effects unit is installed in an electric guitar. The preprogrammed drumbeat of the unit must be followed by the player of the instrument. When playing the instrument, the instrumentalist does not have the capability to manually trigger drum sounds that are stored within a percussion synthesizer.
Several companies produce commercially available guitars or kits that work in conjunction with units commonly known as guitar synthesizers. These are electronic guitar systems designed to produce the sounds of woodwinds, brass and keyboard instruments. Guitar synthesizers utilize a pitch-to-MIDI technology that only responds to the well-executed picking or finger-picking of a string. Although they can produce MIDI note numbers that can trigger percussion sounds from within a guitar synthesizer module, stringed instruments that are fitted with guitar synthesizer drivers are not designed to be struck as a percussion instrument would be. Striking or tapping an instrument that utilizes present pitch-to-MIDI technology would produce glitches, unwanted notes, or noise. None of the guitar synthesizer systems are equipped to trigger percussion sounds acoustically through the use of pressure-sensitive piezoelectric transducers.
Consequently, for solo performers, a need exists for an instrument that expands the capabilities of a traditional stringed instrument to those of a string/percussion instrument, utilizing the instrumentalist""s strumming and striking impact upon the hollow, wooden, drum-like structure that comprises the body of the instrument in conjunction with transducers that are employed to trigger full drum set and percussion sounds that are stored within a percussion synthesizer.
The invention described herein, when played using a tap/strum technique unique to the instrument of the present invention, provides the player of the instrument with the means to accompany the string music produced by the instrument with realistic percussion sounds played at the same time by a single instrumentalist.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a system to generate a percussion sound from a stringed instrument, a method of generating a percussion sound, and a stringed instrument including a transducer unit that substantially obviate one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a musical instrument system is described having a fully functional hollow-body electric stringed instrument with a microphone, pickup and a plurality of transducers, also known as acoustic drum triggers, mounted on selected interior surfaces within the instrument neck and body. Using a playing technique that combines strumming with rhythmic tapping on the instrument neck or body, an instrumentalist is able to play the instrument strings and to simultaneously trigger sounds stored within a percussion synthesizer that is used in conjunction with the present invention. Two freestanding foot transducers, each within a housing in the floor unit, are also connected to a percussion synthesizer. The instrumentalist may tap his or her feet on the housings to trigger additional sounds stored within the percussion synthesizer, usually those of a bass drum. Instrument microphone, pickup, and trigger output signals are transferred to an interface unit that includes output jacks that provide connections to a mixer, preamp, and percussion synthesizer by standard low impedance and xc2xcxe2x80x3 patch cables.
In order to change drum sounds while playing, as a drummer on a conventional drum set may switch from playing the snare drum to the tom-toms for a xe2x80x9cdrum fill,xe2x80x9d the player of the instrument described herein may choose at any time to engage the switching component of the present invention. The switching component is an analog switch, FET switch, or relay that is housed within the system interface of the present invention and through which the instrument trigger output signals are transferred. The switching component alternates between a plurality of functions, with each function providing combinations of one or more instrument trigger outputs. The switching component alternates output functions when a signal is received from a sensor that is placed within the path of the instrumentalist""s playing area. The signal is sent to the switching component whenever the instrumentalist breaks the invisible infrared beam that is transmitted from and reflected back to the sensor. Hence, when the instrumentalist chooses to move into the path of the sensor beam by altering his or her stance or posture slightly while he or she is playing the instrument, the switching component enables the outputs of the alternative function thereby enabling a different combination of sounds within the percussion synthesizer to be triggered by the instrumentalist tapping on the instrument of the present invention. Several switching components and sensors may be employed to provide additional output functions.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a microphone is included within the body of the instrument in the area of the instrument striking surfaces in order to amplify the strike of the instrumentalist""s hand on the body of the instrument. A removable magnetic pickup with self-contained volume control is also included within the body of the instrument. Microphone and pickup output signals are transferred to the system interface through one or two output receptacles that are secured to the instrument body.
In the floor unit of this embodiment of the present invention are two foot pedals containing switches that provide control of patch changes and the opening and closing of the hi-hat sound within the percussion synthesizer. As used within the context of the present specification, patch refers to a group of sounds that are held together by a percussion synthesizer, and can be considered as being similar to a set of drums. This is not to be confused with patch cables, which is used herein in the conventional sense of a patch cable. The floor unit also includes the aforementioned foot triggers, sensor and electrical connections to the system interface unit. The floor unit is detachable to facilitate transportation and storage of the unit.
A wiring system comprised of multi-channel cable and multi-contact connectors is included in the present invention. It facilitates quick assembly and disassembly of the system described herein.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an instrument is provided with pressure-sensitive transducers that are installed under the instrument fingerboard and within the body of the instrument during its construction. Units comprised of the internal components of the instrument of the present invention that may be installed in existing hollow-body tenor, baritone and bass guitars as well as bass violins and most hollow-bodied stringed instruments are also described.
Additional features, advantages, and embodiments of the invention may be set forth or apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. Moreover, it is to be understood that both the foregoing summary of the invention and the following detailed description are exemplary and intended to provide further explanation without limiting the scope of the invention as claimed.